(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and a method of grading and sorting articles and more particularly, but not exclusively, for grading and sorting articles of livestock and providing an electronic information code indicative of specific characteristics of the livestock.
(b) Description of Prior Art
It is necessary to process livestock before they reach the marketplace whereby to determine if such livestock meets the regulation of food and drug agencies as to the quality of the meat. Furthermore, it is necessary to weight the livestock and determine the fat content thereof before the owner can be paid for his product. Often, there is considerable delay in making the payment to the owner as the processing of large quantities of livestock is time-consuming, particularly when some livestock is rejected and complex calculations have to be made to take into account rejections and fat rate of all of the articles of a particular owner. Often, the payment made to the owner is not very precise. Still further, the information gathered is not properly used in compiling statistics to supply requested information to the Government. The owners of livestock also require information, such as the best type of feed to use for minimum fat content, this being determined by the processing of livestocks coming from different owners employing different feeds. Another disadvantage in the processing of such livestock is that it is a very time-consuming task to code the livestock, obtain the various statistics on an individual article of livestock, and document such information.